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After the Life (2002)
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Lucas Belvaux, Ornella Muti, Francois Morel, Catherine Frot, Dominique Blanc
Reviews
This is a harrowing story of addiction and co-dependence, strong and quite moving.
A rich and compelling work in its own right, as well as an integral part of Belvaux's grander project, this brings the trilogy to a moving conclusion.
Each movie casts light on the others. And after watching all three, a profound blending of the stories percolates in your head.
If I had to recommend just one film out of the three, it would be this one.
If On the Run is the most riveting and shocking of the three, and An Amazing Couple the funniest and most engaging, After the Life is the most touching and dramatic.
[Blanc's] performance is as chilling as Lee Remick's in Days of Wine and Roses.
Works well on its own, but it makes the other two films better still by filling in their gaps and thus making the overall series a good deal more interesting.
While it functions independently as a sad, ultimately moving portrait of a deeply codependent couple, the film also emerges as the most richly resonant of The Trilogy.
The Trilogy's amazing partnership is Agnès and Pascal's. With After the Life's tango of enabler and addict, Belvaux finally delivers emotional resonance.
If you have committed to the entire project ... this chapter leaves you not only with a sense of completion but of an ascension to a hard-won grace.
The most intimate and moving of the three films. What’s most compelling about this installment is its frank exploration of a couple mired in co-dependency.


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